Monday, 31 May 2010

In record time (at least for me), I've completed the 1.5k gold Imperial Fist army that I began just over a month ago. I would have completed it faster if I hadn't got distracted by painting up my FoW Panzer list and generally got disillusioned by all things GW-related with the news of the price rise.

Saturday, 29 May 2010

After much hype and speculation, a trailer for the forthcoming Ultramarines film was released today on the official site. The production company had been previewing loads of shots of what the weapons are going to look like (cos, hey, that's all we are interested in, right? forget plot, characterisation etc. Just give us a nice bolter and we are happy. er....)

Well, my initial reaction is that even the diehard fanbois are going to find it hard to say anything overly fanboi-ish about it. Clocking in at just over a minute, the majority of the trailer is John Hurt narrating (with his AMAZING voice) and then a shot of a hagged-looking Ultramarine....and that's it. really.

Aside from the fact that the trailer doesn't really give you much at all, the CGI marine looks really poor - about on par with the one on the start of Dawn of War intro movie from back in the day (in fact the guy on the trailer looks like his grandfather).

I'm always willing to stand corrected, but my guess is that this is shaping up to be bad, really bad.

Sunday, 23 May 2010

Further to my plan in the last post to diversify the wargames that I play, I've decided to take the leap into playing Flames of War with a German [sic.] Panzerkompanie. I've spent the last week or so painting up StuGs and Panzers and getting my head around the basic rules for moving and tank/tank and tank/infantry shooting, although the assault rules and rules for artillery still have me fumoxed . The 2 gamers that I play 40K regularly with have gone for US and Russia, which is helpful for battles :-)

It helps me think about the basic rules for FoW in terms of 40K:

Phases --> Steps: The phases in FoW are called Steps and operate in an identical way to 40K. The only real difference is that FoW adds a Step prior to movement - the Starting Step - in which you can do things like rally troops or try and get crews back into tanks if they have bailed out during all the shooting.

Experience and Skill: An interesting new (at least to me) twist that FoW adds to the mix is the emphasis on how the experience of the troops impacts on the game. Various features of the game, such as the ability to avoid getting shot, motivation to get up while bullets are flying around etc., are determined by the relative experience of the troops in question. So, for example, veterans can work further away from commanders than conscripts; fearless troops are more likely to pass motivation tests than reluctant ones etc. (even with my dice rolls)

Movement: is again recognisable from playing 40k: you move a certain distance determined by your mode of transport, you can run at the double rather than fire (although this, luckily, isn't determined by a dice roll), and get bogged down. The two main differences - at least for me in my simplified version of the rules - is that you can dig in rather than move (and thereby get a better cover save) and that troops have to remain within a certain distance of their commanders (which, again, is similar to the synapse rule with Nids). There are also some cool rules about vehicles getting bogged down and how you can try and get them out and back into the action.

Shooting: One of the things that I always struggle with in 40K is remembering the WS, BS etc tables (although I know that BS is always worked out from a total of 7). FoW has a much more streamlined system based on the ability of the guy at the dangerous end of the bullet to avoid getting hit by it. Another major difference is that a platoon can split its fire between multiple targets rather than everyone just blasting away at the same opponents. The best thing, though, for me from a narrative view of the game is that if a platoon gets pinned down they have to pass a motivation test to get back into the game or stay with their heads down.

Tanks! Tanks! Tanks!: I've left the best to last: with FoW its possible to field a list of just tanks (which is fortunate as I'm not getting my head around the assault rules very quickly). Tanks attacking tanks works in FoW in roughly the same way as in 40K, but rather than just having glancing or penetrating shots, you also have the potential for crews to bail out, wait until it's safe and then get back in.

Monday, 10 May 2010

Well, it looks like it's that time of the year again: the time when GW hike up their prices. Since I got back in the Hobby in 2007, there have already been two rises and this latest one will mean that, for example, Terminators will be 2 quid more, codexes £2.50 more and a Monolith will be £37.50!!! (All this in spite of a pretty large rise in profits). Couple this with GW's awful attitude to fans - i.e. no official forums, no incentive to buy online rather than in stores, hyperactive lawyers, generally ignoring veteran gamers etc. and it feels to me like a line has been crossed. I'm going to keep playing 40K, but will try as long as possible to resist GW by:

Not Buying New: I havent bought new at a GW store for probably a year anyway; buying instead either online via Maelstrom Games or if I need it NOW buying at the Wargamestore. I'm going to try (famous last words!) and not buy anything new from GW, buying either alternatives (see below), painting other types of minis (see below), or secondhand from ebay. This means, at the very least, that my plan of painting up some Tomb Kings has probably gone out of the window lol

Find Alternatives: Rather than just painting GW minis or using GW products, I'm going to also try and find alternatives. For example, I'm really liking the look of the Greatcoat Troopers by Wargames Factory, and I'm sure that there are enough different mini companies out there to keep me occupied. This will also mean that rather than feeling that I have to paint up 1k or 1.5k of minis, I can just paint individual minis that I like the look of. I'm also going to start replacing my GW paints and washes with Vallejo ones (which are cheaper and contain more paint) as they run out.

Diversify: I've found myself drawn more and more recently to playing Flames of War. So, as well as painting other types of minis, I'm going to diversify into that as well - collecting a small German Eastern Front army in tribute to Cross of Iron.